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Should Obama cancel vacation?

Critics in both parties are calling on President Obama to cancel the 10-day Martha’s Vineyard vacation he plans to start Thursday.

Some say the president should get back to Washington and press ahead with efforts to revive the economy. He should even call Congress back into session if necessary.

After all, a constant theme of his bus tour across Iowa and Minnesota had been that Congress needs to stop being obstructionist and take action on pending free trade agreements, an extension of payroll deduction tax relief that helps the middle class and setting up an “infrastructure bank” to lend money for construction projects that could create jobs.
Some of his supporters lament that Mr. Obama will seem out of touch if he follows through with his plan to vacation on Blue Heron Farm, a 28-acre estate on Martha’s Vineyard that rents for $50,000 a week. Mr. Obama is paying the tab for his family, but taxpayers will fork over millions more for security and to house White House staffers who have to be near the president.

The leaders of France and Germany shortened their vacations this week to conduct talks aimed at stabilizing European financial institutions that continue to be undercut by concerns about sovereign debt levels.

Shouldn’t Mr. Obama show that he is just as serious about tackling America’s economic woes?

Mr. Obama also has he defenders. They say Americans are glad to have Congress in recess now and don’t see any reason for the unpopular, polarized lawmakers to return to Washington early just to resume partisan bickering.

The most important thing Congress is going to do concerning the economy, they point out, will come from the 12-member “super committee” that is supposed to identify a further $1.5 trillion in debt reduction over 10 years. That panel’s deadline is Nov. 23, and its work already is going on behind the scenes.

And the reason the president doesn’t have to run back to Washington like French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is that he already did his intense crisis-management earlier this month when he worked out a deal that prevented the United States from defaulting.

Mr. Obama deserves the time off, his supporters say. Besides, he’s providing a nice bit of stimulus for Martha’s Vineyard.

What do you think? Should President Obama cancel his Martha’s Vineyard vacation?